Sound Bites: 'Favourite' by Fontaines D. C.
- Andrew Jamison
- Jun 1
- 2 min read
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'Repetition in word and phrase and in idea is the very essence of poetry,' wrote Theodore Roethke in Some Remarks on Rhythm. I think Fontaines D. C. may have taken this sentiment too much to heart in this 2024 song of theirs. I daren't count the repeated lyrics in this indie-rock jingle-jangle post-4-minute earworm from the Dublin four-piece. 'You were my favourite for a long time' is repeated again and again in this piece, but the lyrics aren't really the point of this song. As with most of the best indie-rock anthems, the words are incidental, but it's the atmosphere they create when blended with the music that counts. And this song is all atmosphere. The official video features old-school camcorder footage of children's 1980s (or 1990s?) birthday parties, and it's this sense of nostalgia, the sunlit irrecoverability of the past this song captures so well. It's emotive and in many ways a bit of an early noughties throwback in its reliance on a guitar melody. It reminds me of The Pixies in the way it balances a bumbling bass line with a dainty arpeggio played in the guitar's high frets. Not as quirky and playful as a Pixies song though, I'd argue.
Look, high art this is not. Complex this is not. Sophisticated this is not. Dynamic and surprising this is not. Repetitive and predictable? Yes. But it's definitely more dynamic than say, an Oasis song structure, even if it does still stick in one register the whole time. In saying that, if you want complexity etc listen to Mozart or one of the Strausses or Liszt or someone like that. But if you want a feeling of lost time, then 'Favourite' by Fontaines D. C. is a decent place to start.
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